Last Sunday’s “Week 9” games marked the beginning of the second half of the NFL season. So far this year, the league has documented a total of 62 concussions. This number denotes five fewer concussions than at the close of Week 9 last season. As Week 9’s late games wrapped up on Sunday night, at least eight more players reportedly left games with head injuries.
The league is working to take effective measures to protect players from traumatic brain injury without taking away from the competitive, physical aspects of the sport. NFL officials and the league commissioner have taken hardline approaches against hits that target a player’s head or similar helmet-to-helmet tackles. Any defensive player making head-to-head contact with a quarterback is also harshly penalized.
Week 9 – Concussion Report
- Red Bryant (DE) & Max Unger (C), Seattle Seahawks: The Seahawks’ twitter account was updated midway through the game announcing that Lineman Max Unger had suffered a concussion. Head Coach Pete Carroll said he was not aware of Bryant’s injury until Monday.
- Nolan Carroll (CB), Miami Dolphins: The Miami Dolphins were extremely lucky as the only team to enter Week 9 without any head injuries. However, their luck appeared to change, as ESPN reported that backup cornerback Nolan Carroll suffered a head injury in the second quarter and did not return to the game.
- T.J. Lang (G), Green Bay Packers: The concussion was the second reported by Lang this season. Last year, Lang left the Packers’ game in Week 15 with a concussion, but returned to the field and did not miss any playing time despite the injury.
- Phil Loadholt (T), Minnesota Vikings: Loadholt was the fourth offensive linemen to report a concussion injury in the past 2 weeks.
- Darren Sproles (RB), New Orleans Saints: The Saints announced that all-pro running back Darren Sproles had been diagnosed with a concussion. The hit occurred as Sproles made a 2-yard reception on the opening drive. His condition is unknown for next week.
- Ike Taylor (CB) & Vince Williams (LB), Pittsburgh Steelers: Ike Taylor was one of two Steelers to exit Week 9 with a head injury. Linebacker Vince Williams was the second.
In all of 2012, a total of 161 reported player injuries were concussions. In 86 of those cases, an injured player was back on the field for their team’s very next game. Medical researchers explain that even mild brain injuries require at least two weeks for recovery and for all symptoms to subside.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)
CTE is a progressive degenerative disease only diagnosed postmortem and found in individuals with a history of multiple concussions. CTE has also been discovered in several former NFL players who had taken their own lives. Medical research has directly linked severe depression and other mood disorders to the long-term effects of concussions and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Symptoms tend to worsen and intensify in people who have suffered multiple concussions.
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